When I first conceived this layout there were a couple of things I wanted
to do differently to most of the layouts I had seen. The first was to frame
the scene with full-depth back and end boards rather than just have
a low backscene on an open baseboard, as having seen a few other layouts
like this it blocks out surrounding distractions and makes the layout
look more like a slice of reality and less toy-like. An added advantage
of this type of construction is that the two halves of the layout bolt
together into a convenient 6'x3'x2' wardrobe-size box for easy transportation
without adding any extra pieces of wood.

Another
idea was to avoid wasting valuable space with a
non-scenic fiddle yard behind
the
vertical
backscene,
but
how? I had
always planned to cover the sharp curves at either end, and the hills
at the north end provided the answer - extend them around the back
to become
a sloping rock face, a disused quarry maybe. Further along towards the
town this could become a more man-made hillside, the type you see
in cuttings
along
motorways. This slope at the back would provide enough space to cover
the 8-track fiddle yard and give a more dramatic landscape, and also
strengthen
the backboards by adding some triangulation, but was it plausible?
A quick bit of research later found that the Lincolnshire
geology is part
limestone, part chalk. Perfect!! So in the story the dairy is now sited
in a disused limestone quarry, the chalk hillside being excavated some
years earlier to give road access to the quarry, hence its uniform
machined
appearance.

Access
to the fiddle yard is through three removable panels in the rear of the
backboards as shown below
The two narrow slots are where the wiring connectors will be sited, recessed
for protection.

.
. . and a closer view showing the track

Apart
from the town area the entire landscape around the track-bed (including
the branch line embankments) has been formed from discarded polystyrene packaging
collected from work colleagues, carefully cut into chunks or slices
depending on the
effect wanted. This is stuck down with PVA, then in some cases carved with
a bread-knife to give the desired contours.

Above
you can see the fiddle yard 'hiding' behind the rock-face on the left.
Below is the other board with the beginnings of the river excavation
on the right.

B

Believe
me, you need a VERY understanding wife/partner if you're planning to
carve polystyrene in the house - this is the mess in the lounge whilst
I was doing just that!

Finally
a covering of papier maché made
with wallpaper paste is built up in layers to give
a more durable shell. This should protect the polystyrene from damage
whilst remaining flexible enough not to crack when moved.

The whole thing has been given a splash of poster paint to give some idea
what the finished landscape will look like.